Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not quite there yet
Review: I found out this last book from Tom Clancy Ok, but it just feels that the story was made for a smaller book, since most of it just details a lot of stuff when A is waiting for B, and most of that could be skipped.Anyway, it's a good novel if you want to read large volumes (I do), but it's not up to the level of Hunt of Red October or The Sum of all Fears.
Rating: 
Summary: Sleeping with Red Rabbit
Review: Clancy's latest novel should be rated five stars. The novels
ability to send one to sleep is only exceeded by a prescription
sleep aid. Fans who own or read his previous books are acuatly
aware of Ryans problems and fears and should have to be reminded
of them only once.
My congratulations to the photographer on a great picture of
Clancy on the cover. I will place the cover in my book shelf
and use the book to prop up a wobbly leg on my kitchen table.
Rating:
Summary: Bare-bones Clancy
Review: Since Executive Orders, I have been increasingly disappointed with Clancy's books. Rainbox 6 was too much like a James Bond movie story. The Bear and the Dragon was too derivative of Clancy's own earlier books. This book at least is a more solid read than the previous two. The intricate, multi-threaded plotting of Clancy's best books is absent. There is only one main story thread--the defection of the Rabbit--with minor diversions. This thread is told with the usual Clancy pace, but without other story lines to occupy our minds, the story evolves very slowly. Ultimately, Tom takes 600+ pages to tell a pretty simple story. My biggest complaint about the book is the occasional sloppy writing. The best example? What is the Rabbit's KGB rank? In some chapters, he's a captain and in others, he's a major. He even got promoted mid-conversation to Colonel for one sentence, before being demoted again to Major in the next sentence. Where are the editors? They were really asleep on that one. There are other examples, like when after the defection, the Rabbit is called Vanya once, though his name is Oleg. (His father is Ivan, and Jack, in talking with Oleg, says his "informal" Russian name would be Vanya, but I don't think you get Vanya from Oleg.) Other's have already pointed out the historical problems with the story (it takes place in 1983, but the assassination of the Pope was in 1981; see below). From a plot point of view, the only thing I was bothered by was the apparent ease with which the Rabbit made his decision to defect. His motivation is conscience, a moral objection to KGB killing an innocent person. I believe the Rabbit has been with KGB for 9 1/2 years, so I would doubt this would the first time he has come across such an action from KGB. Furthermore, to conspire to defect would be to risk not only his life, but that of his wife and young daughter. This would give most men serious pause. But the Rabbit just leaves the office and makes contact with Foley, and never really looks back. I find this hard to swallow. If we can get past this, the rest of the story of the defection is told well, though it could have been done in about half the space. I know I sound pretty negative in my comments. The book is not a painful read, like the previous two books, which is why I give it 3 stars. But I would give 5 stars to nearly all Clancy novels up to Executive Orders, so this one is still quite a step down. It's enough to keep me a fan of Clancy, but not enough to make me run out and buy the next one the day it comes out. I mentioned above the historical problem with the book taking place in 1983. One possible response: the assassination attempt described in the book is not the 1981 attempt that really took place, but another, fictional, attempt. This book is a work of fiction, after all. If you really want to get into the timeline question, all the books really give problems. I mean, the president in this book is clearly Reagan. But, that means the president in Cardinal of the Kremlin and Clear and Present Danger is also Reagan, though this presidency appears to have lasted 3 terms and he was going for a 4th in 1992 when Fowler was elected. We all know that Reagan was succeeded by Bush, but in the books Reagan threw the election to Fowler. Of course, you could say that the president in Clear and Present Danger is Bush, but then Fowler wins in 1992, when we all know Clinton did. You cannot reconcile these.
Rating: 
Summary: Becoming complacent
Review: Tom Clancy must feel that his status is secured in the literary world. Why? Well, simply put, this book is nowhere near the level with with Tom Clancy is capable of. It seems as though he (or quite possibly his publisher) felt that just putting a book out there with his name on it would sell thousands. Alas, that may well be the case. For me, the book seemed to drag on and on with no direction or purpose. While the story is centered around the assassination plot, there was no depth. It made me feel as though I were reading an amateur author's first attempt at writing. The characters were two-dimensional, the plot was weak for most of the book, and it simply was NOT a Tom Clancy novel. All things considered, I would recommend passing on this book. Tom, if you're out there, come on now. I am surprised you put your name on sometihng like this. You of all people are capable of so much better work!
Rating: 
Summary: On the Other Hand...
Review: Unlike most of the other reviewers of Red Rabbit, I enjoyed the book immensely. Having read each Jack Ryan story, I feel that while Tom Clancy approaches the storyline in a different way than usual, this change is not a disappointment. On the contrary, the book's calmer, more suspenseful plot and pace show a maturing Clancy, whose writing isn't only about shooting the bad guys and saving the world.
Having said this, I urge you to give this novel a try. If you don't like it you can always pass it on to someone who will.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit
Review: This book drones on and on and doesn't seem to make any point. After 200+ pages, I quit reading and put it away. Tom Clancy, you can do much better than this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Seem To Finish This One
Review: I've read them all and this has been a lousy read so far. I'm half way into it and struggling. I'm a big Clancy fan and usually buy his autographed books after waiting in line to see him. Not this time though. He has started his book tour for years in New London, CT at the Paperback Booksmith due to it's proximity to the Submarine Capitol of the World. Well ... the Booksmith shutdown after his previous release and this must have changed his luck.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit Hops.....Slowly
Review: Tame plot, not much action. More of a sermon on religion than an adventure story.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but certainly not up to his past performance
Review: If you are like me (before I read this book), then you probably have checked out this book a couple of times and are trying to decide if you want to buy it or wait for the paperback. Ultimately, I took a chance on it because the last time Clancy went on a tangent (Rainbow Six), I enjoyed the book immensely. This time, however, I was disappointed. So let me take a moment and describe the pros and cons of this book so that you can decide whether to wait. This book seems to have sprouted from an interesting idea that Clancy thought up and researched...was the Pope's attempted assassination actually a nation-state's work rather than the "lone gunman?" Unfortunately, though the idea is interesting, the story is not. While there is some limited background on interesting characters from past novels (the Foleys, Ritter, and others), and there is some interesting insight into actual historical characters (Andropov, for instance), there is none of the tension in this book that makes Clancy's previous literary endeavors so hard to put down. In fact, the book is down right plodding for about three to four hundred pages before it begins to become interesting. Another annoying habit is Clancy's penchant for making his characters omniscient. For instance, with the book taking place in the early 80s, Jack Ryan is not only able to indicate how the Soviet Union is a house of cards (something that no one predicted back then), but also buys stock in Starbucks (long before they were on every street corner) and predicts who wins the World Series. Rather than making the character seem smart, it simply reminds the reader that you are reading a book...a rather dull one at that. In fact, it almost seems to steal a page from the Austin Powers movie! At its most basic, this book seems to be a response to the primary literary criticism that Clancy has faced in the past...namely that his books lack character development and are simply plot driven books. While this may be true, his plot driven books of the past were very fun and enjoyable to read...and this one is neither. Ultimately, there is some interesting stuff in this book and any fan of the Jack Ryan series will find the background of the characters interesting. However, there is no reason to run out and buy the book now...I wish I had waited for the paperback myself. With so many enjoyable books written by Clancy in the past, this book is a perfect example of how past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy Goes Grisham
Review: It's a sad day when a hero dies; a little innocence is lost, as when you discover Santa Claus doesn't exist, or that your dad isn't Superman after all. Red Rabbit is Tom Clancy's fall from grace, and it's no tiny tumble, but a full-fledged leap off the literary ledge to dash himself among rocks of other failed "franchise" writers.
John Patrick Ryan is back, which should be a good thing, though he's been "Affleckized" into a younger version of the venerable star, and like that talentless actor, just bumbles his way through a poorly scripted plot with no sparks or charisma.
I could in fact describe the entire plot in about 2 paragraphs and not give anything away, because there are no twists, no surprises, none of the artful weaving of disparate threads into the usual cohesive whole we expect from Clancy. Painfully absent are the technological descriptions that enlightened civilians and gave them a peek into the military arsenals and capabillities of East and West, the words that let them feel like they were sitting in a general's command throne.
By setting the book back in the Cold War 80's, Clancy missed a beautiful chance to paint his scenes with the facts and ironies gleaned by hindsight. He goes so far as to allude tongue-in-cheek to a "west coast coffee franchise" Ryan invests one hundred thousand in because of their good coffee, but ruins it with later references to something called "Starbucks."
Which leads to the most damning part of this novel. Clancy spends more time describing Ryan's wake-up rituals and what the character thinks of the coffee EVERY DAY than he does worrying about guiding the novel into halfway interesting scenes.
Red Rabbit is Tom Clancy's expose; it reveals him as a good ol' American boy in all his Yankee glory. The author obviously spent time in Europe recently, for he describes the experience in minutae, as all Yanks see it, ie: how things there are Unamerican; tea instead of coffe, numerous references to the differences between grass-fed cattle and the corn-fed American versions, the poor coverage of American sports, how Brits have two taps in their sinks while the superior Americans have but one, etc... The list goes on and on, and it's quite frankly embarrassing, and at times the book seems more a treatise on the differences between New World and Old than anything else.
The spark is gone, the torch must be passed; it's almost as if Tom let his new wife write the book for him, then he added in about 450 pages of filler, mostly made up of useless swearing and countless references to Ryan's past as a Marine (we know the character spent a year at Quantico in West Virginia, but to have the fact thrown out at least two times EVERY chapter becomes insulting). Clancy rambles and repeats himself as if senile, and you can be damned sure if he submitted the manuscript to an editor under a different name the work would have been tossed into the trash immediately. But, as evidenced on the cover, the font for the author's name is about three times larger than the title's, which says it all. The book is nothing but the cashing in on a legacy and I for one will never buy into it again. It's a sad day when a good man falls... Jerry Seinfeld and Gary Larson were smart enough to get out while they were still fresh, still on top, but people like John Grisham and now, sadly, Tom Clancy, couldn't resist going to the well one more time, and their greed and lack of talent were finally exposed.
Red Rabbit begs the question: Tom, what were you thinking?
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